Deva Schubert, the first international artist in residence at Dance Base Yokohama, on the ongoing explorative work informing her performance “Mouth to Mouth -A Glitching Choir" shown in June 2024.
"Glitching as a voice practice to rework a lamento song."
Kemmler Foundation: Deva, what is a glitching choir?
Deva Schubert: In my work, I am deeply interested in the connection between voice and community. The work we made in Japan is based on an earlier performance called "Glitch Choir", which focuses on glitching as a voice practice to rework a lamento song. The piece applies the glitch, a digital distortion, to the voice. What happens when two voices meet with a slight friction? What kind of communal space emerges from there?
Inspired by so-called “mourning women”, the performance approached the subject of grief as a disruption of everyday life, through these technical experiments with the voice.
Where did you take the work during your residency at Dance Base Yokohama?
In "mouth to mouth – a glitching choir-" the piece we developed at Dance Base Yokohama (DaBY) in Japan, we let go of the lamento song that was carrying the piece to see what other kinds of emotions the voice practices we developed can open without the frame of the lamento. We were excited to see what other affects the intimate work with dissonant voices would bring up in this new context that has its own regulations of the voice and the emotions that come with it, especially for females. Also we started to search for a noisy and chaotic body to disrupt the performative landscape we developed. One could say, that we ended up moving away from glitch as a disrupting event to working on noise as a dysfunctional state under the surface and how to surrender to its uncontrollable dynamic.
Who are your collaborators?
For the residency we had the chance to work with three local dancers from Japan: Akane Kuri, Ayano Otaki and Satoko Higasa. Our own team consisted of the dancer Chihiro Araki, with whom I created and performed "Glitch Choir", the musician and sound designer Davide Luciani, the dramaturg Lotta Beckers and myself as the choreographer.
In what other ways did your stay in Japan influence the final piece?
During our residency we started to research on the music genre “Japanoise”, that emerged in the 70s. Especially the movement qualities of musicians like Keiji Haino became an inspiration for the dysfunctional wildness we were looking for as a contrast to the voice. We also became fascinated with Japanese female punk bands, like Otoboke Beaver and their energy. Choreographically we started to play with concert references, such as soloing, collective band moments, preparations. We used microphone stands as props, like ruins from a concert. The flip flops and sunglasses of the costume were similarly inspired by the japanoise vibe. In general the piece became a sort of after-concert landscape.
"The version is less holy and clean."
Was it also challenging to work on "Glitch Choir" in a Japanese context?
While "Glitch Choir" is based on the idea of working with changing local choir (depending on were the piece is shown), in the residency in Japan we worked with local dancers instead. Of course it makes a huge difference that the piece in Japan was performed by four dancers. For us, it was important to stay open and porous for the different context of this collaboration and to see where the piece could go from this encounter. We also didn’t know if the dancers would feel comfortable with the intimate mouth to mouth singing – luckily they were curious about this experiment. In this different context, I felt a need to bring more contrast and dynamic to the piece – some punk to shake up the bodies. So we actually started to develop some new material. We started working with jumping. Also musically the version in japan is completely different. With this new material, the attitude of the performers changed too . Although the subject of grief is still present, the version is less holy and clean.
How would you like to explore this project further?
This project feels like a practice I can endlessly explore. One idea is to start the piece in the middle, where the energy is already very high and it has kind of a peak. I can also imagine turning the material upside down by reversing it, making the inside of it even more visible - like when you cut a mango and press the inside out. I also wonder: What is the relationship between Chihiro and myself within the choir? And where is the glitch in the holy end of the Lamento?
What would happen if we do the performance with a very big choir?
Finally, it was a very interesting experience for me to teach the voice practices we developed in Japan. I would like to develop a workshop from the "Glitch Choir" material and share it with others.
“Mouth to Mouth -A Glitching Choir-” was realized with support from Kemmler Foundation.